BassNBarry

Starting this spring, I plan to add about an HOUR of fly fishing to my morning bass outings. It's been 40 years since I caught a bass on a fly rod and the equipment has evolved. I would appreciate any advice on use of leaders and tippets. I will be using 8 wt floating line on a 9' rod. (1) How LONG a leader should I use? (2) mono (it floats better) or fluorocarbon? (3) What pound test leader (I anticipate catching a fair share of 3-5 pound bass since I catch a lot of those with my bait casters)? (4) Same for the tippet - LENGTH, mono or f.c. and pound test? Thanks to anyone who takes the time to share their knowledge.

2015 was a terrific year; my best ever. My fishing buddy and I didn't start tracking results until mid year. From then through December, we caught 23 bass between 5 and 6 pounds; 9 bass between 6 and 7 pounds; and he caught his PB 9.2 pounds. We also caught a lot of bass between 3 and 5 pounds. I will add that we are both retired and average fishing twice a week; one nice benefit of retirement. We do use larger bait as we are trying to catch larger bass. We did particularly well fishing for about an hour before sunrise, and we hit a home run in December, when the winter thaw motivated the larger fish to continue feeding aggressively. We also hit a few bass on top of the head with our casts and that always helps. We track everything: date, time, lunar calendar, weather conditions, water temp, bait used, location and depth caught, etc. It's fun to track, and for us, it pays dividends.

I'm probably already doing this, but don't use the correct terms. For a swimbait, what's the difference between "internal" and "external" rigging? Thanks. Any tips are appreciated.

I've always fished my swimbaits with paddle tail down and hook up. I've fished straight tail swimbaits both ways and don't see that much difference. What's most important to me is to get the bait straight on the hook; VERY straight. If I think I'm off even a little bit, I rig again. There's one swimbait (mostly used as a trailer) I have that confuses me. When I run the hook out the top, it interferes with the dorsal fin (see pic), while the bottom of the bait is hollowed-out for the hook, but the hook is then facing down; I like my hooks up as they are more weedless. Until I figure this out, I've stopped using this bait. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I use Z man "Project Z" chatterbaits. It's been a great bait all year round, but I cry when I loose one as they are expensive.

Appreciate your drag-set advice for your spinning rig. I use 12-lb fc and a medium-power rod and never had a fish break off. On the flip side, I've missed getting better hook sets because of lighter drag and less power in the rod. I'll tighten the drag and see how I like it. No problem with my BC's. Would like to hear any other advice for setting drag on a spinning rig.

I fish mostly stained water, and after a lot of rain, visibility (to humans) is often less than a foot. Under these conditions, I've had more success using a chartreuse-colored chatterbait, with a swimbait trailer, more than any other bait. I fish it slower (just fast enough to move the blade) when the water temp drops below 50. The bites can be very subtle so you really have to pay attention to your line.

Was fishing on a cold, cloudy morning earlier this month. We had struck out all morning using chatterbaits, pig & jigs and swim jigs with various trailers. On the way back to the dock, we switched to a 6" swimbait with weighted hook (Texas rigged) and caught 6 bass in just over an hour with an average weight of 5.4 pounds. Big bass bite big baits. It seems that swim baits we're the only bait the bass wanted to eat that morning.

I keep it simple for the kind of fishing I do, and prefer a quality all-around rod. Use Falcon Cara 7' MH rods and Lew's Tournament Pros and new TPG reels; use St. Croix and Abu spinning reel on my 1 Finesse rig. I also like consistency on combos, but more importantly, these rods do a terrific job for what I want them to do. Lots of folks can make a strong case for their fave rods. For me, it's a case of finding something I like for how I fish then, staying with that rod/combo until there is a compelling reason to try something else.

Bluebasser86 . . . impressive handiwork. Thanks for sharing the pics. I keep a detailed log of what catches what, when, etc. and chatterbaits out performed all my other baits, even my pig & jigs. Last time out, 3 of us were fishing in two boats; I was in a boat fishing by myself. Threw chatterbaits, swim jigs with paddle tail trailer, and pig & jig all over this ledge at every possible angle and didn't get a strike. My two fishing buddies followed me 15 minutes later in exactly the same area where I struck out and caught 8 bass in an hour (average weight over 5 pounds) using a 6" Shad-delicious swimbait with a weighted hook. I got the lesson – when they aren't biting, keep changing baits, etc. and you find what the bass want to eat.

I've used Zman Original, Elite and Project Zs (now using Project Zs only) with various Elastech trailers and have caught dozens of good-sized bass. No doubt Project Zs are pricy, but IMO, they are durable and they catch fish. Haven't had durability issues with any Zman chatterbaits. The skirts have held up and the paint can take a beating; I just sharpen the hooks regularly. They are my go-to bait anytime the water turns muddy after a heavy rain. This December, after 8 days of rain, the water was extremely muddy, and I could barely see the bait under 4-6 inches of water. Even in those conditions, we caught some nice bass.

Zman all the way. Have caught dozens of 3-6 pound bass using this highly productive bait; prefer the MinnowZ trailer although my fishing buddy has equal success using a paddle tail. We fish a lot of stained water so the Zman chatterbait is a productive staple. After a heavy rain, I use it even more (chartreuse color). I'm now using the Project Z because it looks better (the fish probably don't care) and has a better hook keeper for baits made with "Elastech." Before I started using Project Z, I used the Elite and Original and caught a lot of fish, and they cost less; however I still use Project Z. I fish it with just enough speed to move the blade while using erratic rod action and occasionally letting it rise and sink, rise and sink. You'll figure out what works best for you.

I've had very good success using different Zman trailers (love the MinnowZ in Redbone) on Zman Project Z and Elite Chatterbaits. One day in early December, I couldn't buy a strike using chatterbaits. I then tried a 4" Keitech Swing Impact on a swim jig and caught 3 bass in 10 minutes in the same area; first was over 5 pounds. After that, i also used the Keithech on chatterbaits with moderate success. I just ordered the Keitech 4.8 Swing Impact Fat to use as a stand-alone swimbait; product has been back ordered from Tackle Warehouse, but expected to ship in about a week.

There are two external brake settings. On the left is your adjustable centrifugal brake system that manually click adjusts from free spool to maximum braking. Start with a middle setting and adjust either free or max based on the weight of your lure, wind conditions, preferred casting length, etc. On the drag side of the reel is a cast control system that manually click adjusts. Most of what I throw on this rig are 1/2 oz. baits or a little more when I add a trailer. Once you have your braking where you want it, there's really no need to adjust unless you are throwing into the wind. I have my TPG paired with a 7' Falcon Cara MH rod (great all-purpose rod). The reel fits my hand beautifully, and it's SMOOTH. Love the tuck-away hook keeper.

Was going to get another Tournament Pro when the new TPG was introduced; it turned up under my Christmas tree along with another Falcon Cara rod. I've used it 4 times since Christmas and have caught several 5-plus pounders with the recent winter thaw. The G is a beautiful machine and I love the innovations, especially the hook keeper. More than anything, I am all over the 7.5:1 ratio. It's helped me land several fish that made strong runs to the boat. It did take awhile to tune the brakes, but once I got it where I like it, haven't had a backlash.